Questions of leadership remain, but the company does appear to be recovering

Amid
a round of disappointing earnings reports from Cisco and others,
General Motors actually had some good news to report yesterday.
Following it's May report of an $865M
USD profit -- its first profit since Q2
2007 -- GM has posted an
even bigger profit, announcing a net income of $1.3B USD on a revenue
of $33.2B USD.

GM is also sitting on a stockpile of $32.5B USD
in cash -- leftovers from bailouts received from the U.S. and
Canadian governments, in addition to revenue for the sales of its
laggard brands like
Hummer.

That was the good news. The somewhat
troubling news for GM was its announcement that CEO
Ed Whitacre was stepping
down. The quiet Texan had masterminded the company's
turnaround drawing on his long history of success as a senior
executive, and eventually CEO at AT&T.

The news reportedly
stunned GM insiders.

Equally surprising, perhaps, is the
choice for his successor. Whitacre will be replaced by former
Nextel CEO Daniel Akerson. Akerson, currently a private-equity
firm where he is a managing director with the Carlyle Group,
currently serves on GM's board.

Akerson
is a firm proponent of electric vehicles. As public
buzz and anticipation grew about the 2011 Chevy Volt,
Akerson pushed hard for GM to increase production 50 percent.

Some
are optimistic about the appointment. As a board member,
Akerson showed he wasn't afraid to sack people, pushing for
Henderson's resignation. Steven Rattner, former head of the
White House auto task force, comments,
"He's a no B.S. kind of guy, just like Whitacre. His whole
operating style is the antithesis of the old GM. It is hard for me to
imagine a better choice."

But some fear that he's too
much of a financial man and lacks the necessary experience to lead GM
optimally. Paul T. McCartney, a managing director of Heritage
Search Partners Inc. in New York comments, "[His whole career]
"has been focused on making the numbers as best as you can and
[then] 'let's move on with the company in some other form.' [He
isn't] going to lay out the strategic future of General
Motors."

From a purely statistical perspective, the odds
merely of Akerson keeping his position seem slim -- GM has had four
CEOs in just a year and a half.

However, it's critical that
Akerson prove a decisive leader. GM is on the verge of
announcing a initial public offering of stock to repay the U.S. and
Canadian governments. That offering has now been put on hold as
account executives responsible for it reportedly race to change the
documentation -- something which gives you the idea of how unexpected
Whitacre's departure was.

If Akerson can pull together and
repay the government via a successful offering he will offer
vindication to Democratic
President Barack Obama and his predecessor, Republican
President George W. Bush, who both chose to bet on GM, bailing
the company out at the taxpayer's expense. Such a success would
certainly elevate Akerson into the annuls of automotive executive
history.

However, if the IPO disappoints and GM falters, don't
be surprised if Akerson becomes the latest GM chief to see the door
slam behind him.

"We can't expect users to use common sense. That would eliminate the need for all sorts of legislation, committees, oversight and lawyers." -- Christopher Jennings